Life is busy, and sometimes it’s hard to get enough time during the week to hit the gym more than once or twice.

A wise person once said, “work smarter, not harder”—so let’s make sure you’re maximizing your gym time efficiently. Take full advantage of the following strategies to get the best results without wasting any time.

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Keep Cardio Under 20 Minutes

If you’re doing cardio for more than 20 minutes during your workout, you’re wasting your time.

If your fitness goals are to burn fat, tone up, and get in great shape all around, your best bet is to incorporate time-efficient interval training.

Slowly Lower The Weights

When it comes to building muscle, how you lift weights is important. One way to speed muscle growth is to perform slow and controlled eccentric movements.

There are two parts of lifting weights, the lifting phase (concentric) and the lowering phase (eccentric). For example, during a biceps curl, you curl the weight up toward your shoulders (concentric) and then lower the weight back down (eccentric).

In order to incorporate this technique, always make sure you let the weights down slowly and controlled, allowing the muscle to stretch out gradually under the weight.

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Chris Nicoll / M+F Magazine

Activate The Glutes

Most of us sit down for long periods during the day, causing our butts to literally fall asleep. This means when it’s time to workout your legs and lower body, your glutes don’t fire at full capacity.

Our glutes are the largest muscles in the body and are consequently very important when it comes to burning fat and performing movements correctly.

Therefore during your warm up, make sure to activate your glutes with some bodyweight hip thrusts, lunges or step-ups.